Quetta -UNS: Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Chairman of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Head of the Tehreek Tahafuz Aain Pakistan and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, said that the state must listen to the voice of the Pashtuns and address their legitimate constitutional, political, economic and national rights through democratic and constitutional means.
He warned that no state could be sustainably governed through force or coercion, and said the people should not be compelled to take their grievances to international forums.
He was addressing the opening session of the three-day Public Jirga of Southern Pashtunkhwa, held in Quetta under the chairmanship of Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the Pashtuns were passing through a difficult period of political uncertainty, economic hardship, insecurity and deprivation.
The Jirga, he said, had been convened as a representative forum to bring together people from different walks of life and schools of thought to deliberate on collective challenges through consultation and collective wisdom.
He described the jirga as an historic Pashtun tradition of resolving collective issues through mutual consultation and responsibility.
He said the prevailing political, economic and security crises could not be accepted as the permanent destiny of any nation. These conditions were created by human political and administrative arrangements and could therefore be changed through democratic struggle, sound judgment and better governance. At the same time, Pashtuns must critically examine their own weaknesses and shortcomings.
He said Pashtunkhwa possessed immense natural resources, minerals and strategic importance, yet these had too often become sources of hardship and insecurity rather than prosperity.
The lands and resources of local communities, he stressed, could not be transferred or occupied without their consent and constitutional protection.
He emphasized that the Jirga was not against any nation, ethnicity or religion. Pashtuns believed in equality, coexistence and respect for all human beings and rejected discrimination based on race, colour, language or faith. Pashtun land, he said, must not be turned into a battleground for wars, proxy conflicts or competing strategic interests.
Expressing grave concern over insecurity in Southern Pashtunkhwa, he said the state’s foremost duty was to protect citizens’ lives, property and fundamental rights. Referring to the bombing of a police station in Saranan and the killing of innocent labourers, he called for responsibility to be clearly established.
He also expressed concern over the allocation and transfer of local communities’ lands to non-local individuals, institutions and companies, stressing that such matters required constitutional safeguards, transparency and community consent.
Regarding Baloch-Pashtun relations, he said the Baloch were their brothers and that the province should be governed through equality, justice, mutual respect and partnership among its constituent peoples. He said Pashtuns were prepared to accommodate Hazara and other urban communities of Quetta within their share through a fair political and administrative framework.
On Afghanistan, he said the country must not be viewed solely through the prism of security. He recalled that Cold War rivalries, interventions and proxy conflicts, followed by the so-called War on Terror, had inflicted immense destruction on Afghanistan and the wider region. He called upon SCO member states and the UN Secretary-General to adopt a comprehensive political, humanitarian and regional approach.
He said the major powers and their proxies bore significant historical responsibility and now had a civilizational responsibility to help restore Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, stability, peace and prosperity.
He reaffirmed that the people of Southern Pashtunkhwa would continue their peaceful democratic struggle for their rights: “We are not against anyone; we stand for our rights. We neither seek anyone else’s land or rights nor will we surrender our own land, resources, identity or constitutional rights.”
He called for a state order based on the Constitution, Parliament, democracy, the people’s mandate and national equality rather than coercion.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai also expressed sorrow over the tragic PIMS Islamabad incident and demanded a transparent, impartial and comprehensive investigation. He expressed solidarity with the flood victims in Nepal and Tibet and conveyed condolences to the bereaved families.
